


Across the Universe

by stoprobbers



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: F/M, Post-Episode: s07e05 The Angels Take Manhattan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-19
Updated: 2014-05-19
Packaged: 2018-01-25 17:00:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1655825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stoprobbers/pseuds/stoprobbers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first thing Rory noticed was that he was no longer in a cemetery, but an office. (Post-The Angels Take Manhattan</p>
            </blockquote>





	Across the Universe

The first thing Rory noticed was that he was no longer in a cemetery, but an office. A posh office, if the dark wood built-in stuffed with heavy leather-bound books was anything to go by. He blinked. He had definitely just been in a cemetery. Staring at his own headstone, confused. He was  _sure_  that's what he had just been doing. Amy had been asking– 

"Amy!" he blurted, as if his mouth needed to give his brain a kick to get it working again. This prompted a muffled exclamation from his right, which prompted Rory to notice a second thing: On the posh leather couch next to the posh dark wood built-in was a couple, a dark-haired man and blonde-haired woman, rather wrapped around each other and half out of their clothes. Rory gaped. The man gaped. The woman gaped.

Amy popped into existence right in front of him.

"Rory!" she exclaimed, collapsing into his arms, and into tears. He caught her more from reflex than any real intention and hugged her close, his eyes still trained on the couple, who were now shifting about to cover up more vulnerable bits and pieces. The woman seemed to be reaching for her pocket, while the man's brow had furrowed and he looked increasingly curious. A sinking feeling appeared in the pit of Rory's stomach; that look was unsettlingly familiar.

Amy sniffled and, finally sensing the silence around her, looked up. Her mouth opened and closed a couple of times before she turned back to him.

"What is going on?" she asked in a low voice. He shook his head and tried to make sounds come out of his still-gaping mouth. He failed.

***

They both cradled steaming mugs of tea, perched on stools at a massive granite kitchen island in a massive kitchen while the blonde woman spoke quietly on the phone over by the sink and the man was working on fusing what appeared to be various junk computer board parts with a number of small kitchen appliances and mixing bowls, using a horribly familiar tool.

"What is he doing?" Amy muttered. Rory shrugged.

"That looks like…"

"Yeah. How does he have a sonic screwdriver?"

"Oh dear." The man's voice seemed loud when the buzzing stopped, and he looked up at them through a pair of glasses. "You know what this is, then?"

"We know–knew — a man who had one of those, yeah," he managed.

"How? Where did he get it?"

The man's lips were curving up into a grin and he set the screwdriver down and beckoned to the blonde. She ended her call and walked over.

"Do you know the Doctor?" Amy asked, sounding suspicious. The blonde's face went a little pale, and a little stunned, and then quickly to more than a little amused.

"Do you know them?" she asked the man. He shook his head, grinning baldly now.

"Never seen 'em before in my life. Well," he paused, considering, "That young man looks a bit like this famous statue, this Roman soldier, it was pristine for literally thousands of years and no one could figure out how they did it. Saw it a bunch of times, seemed to crop up in the oddest places, and the it just sort of disappeared in the early twenty-first century–"

"T-that was me," Rory found himself stuttering and the man looked gobsmacked, "I sort of… died and then got brought back as plastic and then the Doctor sort of, um, reset the universe and then Amy brought him back at our wedding."

The couple across the island from them looked as if he had actually grown a second head while talking; he felt an overwhelming desire to pat his shoulders to make sure he hadn't. Then the blonde woman burst into hysterical laughter. She bent over in half and desperately grabbed at the counter to keep from falling on the floor. Her voice echoed, interspersed with wheezes as she tried to suck in enough air. The man's grin was frozen into place, his eyes dancing with something so complex as to be utterly unnamable.

"What is going on here?" Amy suddenly yelled, banging the granite with her palm. "I have just had one of the  _worst_ days of my life, someone  _tell me what is going on here! Who are you?!_ "

At her outburst the blonde woman began the valiant effort of gathering her wits back together and seemed as if she wanted to give a serious answer, but the moment she opened her mouth she let loose another round of helpless laughter.

"That hyena is Rose Tyler," the man answered slowly, wryly, pointing at her then gave them a little wave, "Me, well, I'm the Doctor."

*** 

"He told us he could change," Amy said slowly, now on her second mug of tea. Rose and the Doctor had mugs of their own now, as well, as were listening intently, though Rose seemed to be fighting back a very serious case of the giggles from time to time. Rory wasn't sure, but he thought he'd stopped being able to feel the tips of his fingers.

"He told us that if we ever got separated and we found him and he had changed bodies not to be scared. But that was all. Just a precaution."

"Someone taught you manners while I was away," Rose teased. The Doctor (absently, Rory wondered how many times he'd have to call him that before he recognized that whatever that Weeping Angel had done, it had also made him lose all of his marbles) rolled his eyes.

"So you're… an earlier Doctor? A Doctor from our past?" Rory asked.

"Tenth body, mark two," the Doctor said proudly, puffing out his chest a little. He lifted his right hand and wiggled the fingers. "I grew out of a hand."

There was a long pause where Rose looked like she was trying very hard not to laugh and Amy and Rory were left to gape at the brown-haired man across from them. Not knowing exactly how to follow that declaration, Rory turned his attention to Rose.

"And you are… his… companion?" he ventured. She gave a considering tilt of the head.

"Well, I was. Ninth body too, the one before this."  
  
"You were with him a long time, then," Amy noted. They got that considering tilt again.

"That body went rather quick," the Doctor interjected, "There was an incident."

"I ripped open the TARDIS and she turned me into a god for about ten minutes," Rose leaned conspiratorially towards them, tip of her tongue poking out from the corner of her grin, "I turned a battle fleet of Daleks to dust, along with their emperor, made one of my friends immortal, and killed 'im when he took it out of me. With a kiss, too, like a Disney movie!"

Amy and Rory stared.

"Life with us, it's never dull," the Doctor boasted, but it didn't sound like his heart was in it.

"Wait," Amy said after a moment letting that tidbit sink in, "You said you  _were_ his companion. What are you now?"  
  
"Oh you're a good one, I can see why I like you," the Doctor nodded, and this time the cheer was real, "Rose is my wife."

"Your wife?!" Amy yelped. Rory saw a familiar fierceness appear behind her eyes and gulped.

"Yes," both of them looked baffled at the outburst, but it was Rose who answered, "And… partner, and boss, I'm his boss too."

"You were married before?!"

"What? Why would you–"

"You're married to my daughter!"

 "I mean, you wouldn't expect a man nearly a millennium old to go through all that time without a marriage here or there–hold on,  _what?!_ "

"River. Song." Amy bit out, "My daughter. Your wife."

" _Oh_  dear. Oh dear, oh dear…"

"You're starting to sound a bit like the white rabbit," Rose remarked dryly, "You late for a very important date?"

"How did you get here?" the Doctor asked sharply, suddenly all business.

"Weeping Angels," Rory answered. "There was a big… they took over New York, it was a big thing. I was going to die but we made a paradox and it just… reset things, but there was this tombstone with my name on it and I was looking at it and then I was here.  I figured…"

"Yes," Amy confirmed quietly, "I went after you."

Rose looked so sympathetic it felt eerie, and Rory found he couldn't hold her gaze.

"Right, and the Weeping Angels send you back to the past, feast on all your tomorrows. But we have a problem–wait, what are your names?"  
  
"Amy," at his raised eyebrows she added, "Pond. Amy Pond."  
  
"Rory Williams."

"We have a problem Amy Pond, oh that's a good one too, Amy Pond and Rory Williams. Because you, Rory, have a headstone in a graveyard in New York City, and the Weeping Angels sent you back to the past in a different universe. "

For a long moment no one said anything.

"D'you have any whiskey?" asked Rory.

*** 

Shortly after a bottle of whiskey had been procured from one of the many liquor cabinets in what Rory now knew was a mansion, the Doctor abandoned his first gadget in favor of digging a number of devices out of the attic and working on setting them right again in the middle of a family room. Rose had consulted with him for a moment while he and Amy had taken a moment to force their wits back into some sort of order and take a shot of what turned out to be a rather fine rye. Then she left him to it and joined them in the little sitting alcove where they'd settled. There was a long moment of awkward silence.

"I know–" Rose started, but Amy cut her off.

"What do you mean parallel universe?"

"It's exactly what you think," she said after a stunned pause. "Every decision you make, it branches off into its own parallel universe. They're infinite. This is one of them. It's a bit like watching the telly, you know, a universe that's almost like your own but… different."

"Are there zeppelins? " Rory blurted out, "There's always zeppelins in parallel universes on television."

"Yup."

"Seriously?"

"Believe me, I know."

"So how did you  _meet_ him?" Amy leaned forward, pouring a couple fingers of whiskey into three glasses. Rose took hers, looking relieved. "How did he get here, how did he find you?"  
  
"Oh, I'm not from here," Rose shook her head, "I'm from your universe. Grew up in east London, Powell Estate. I was workin' at Henrick's, and attacked by living plastic dummies. He saved my life and blew up my job. Then he showed up at my flat the next morning, looking for more living plastic. It just sort of… happened. I ran off with him and when he took me back the next day he skipped forward a year. Rubbish driver."

"That's not changed," Amy agreed. "How did you get  _here?_ "

Rose's face, open and warm only a second before, instantly shuttered. "There was a battle."

"A battle?"  
  
"At Canary Wharf," she shook her head, as if to disagree with the mere fact of it, "I could have died. I got stuck here instead. Sort of the same."

"But he–"

"It is  _very_ complicated," it was Rose's turn to cut Amy off, "And it's been four years now and I am  _happy._ When you get back home, ask him about it. Maybe he'll tell you. I don't know how long it's been for him, I don't know how fresh… and I don't know what you mean to him. We all mean so much to him, but we mean such different things."

"We can't," Amy sighed and took a big sip of whiskey. "When we go back… we don't see him again. We live a life together and we, I think, are happy, but we never see the Doctor again."

Every part of Rose seemed to radiate empathy. "I am sorry. And I understand."

They all considered their whiskey and took a sip. Rose grimaced as she swallowed but took a second anyway. There was a loud click from where the Doctor was sitting.

"I think we're ready," he said.

*** 

The computer-like contraption on the carpet hummed as the Doctor slipped a large yellow button on a leather rope around each of their necks. Rory lifted his up to look at it, curious.

"That's it?"

"That is an inter-dimensional jumper, I wouldn't scoff at it if I were you. It's going to take you home."

"How do you know that?" Amy asked.

"The walls between parallel worlds are closed and well-sealed. Whatever the Weeping Angels did when they took you this time, they used such tremendous power that it transported you through a pinhole that was exactly you-shaped and you-sized. You two are very important and the multiverse, as such, has chosen to accommodate you. As such, when you push these buttons you will go back through that pinhole; if it was closed that machine right there wouldn't even be working. And since it is, it means the hole is ready to take you home. No one else can fit through it; all you have to do is push that button."

"And that's it?"  
  
"That's it."

"And if we don’t push these buttons? If we choose to stay here?" Rory asked, unable to help himself. This was all too much.

"You don't," Rose said simply. "You saw your name on that tombstone; Amy, I reckon your name appeared right after his when you disappeared. It can't be there if you didn't push the button. It'd be a paradox."

"I don't know what to do now," Amy said, helplessly. "What do we do now?"  
  
"You live a life," Rose said with a smile, taking her Doctor's hand. "It's not so bad. You find a way. You said to me, you said you thought you were happy once you got sent back. So be happy. Love and live and be happy."

Amy looked to be near tears again and Rory took her hand, squeezing tight. The two couples regarded each other.

"I rather like you both," the Doctor said after a moment. "I can see why I'd want you to come. And I think I probably miss you terribly. But all I have ever wanted for anyone who's traveled with me — and there have been so many — is for them to be happy. Rose is much wiser than you'd guess; listen to her. Be happy, Ponds."

He sounded so much like their Doctor that they gaped for a moment. And then, as one, they pushed their buttons.


End file.
